This is a test to see if the problem is fixed. Here’s hoping!
Some Trouble with the Blog
I’m having some trouble getting my blog to update properly. I’ve tried everything I’ve seen on the internet, and don’t have it figured out. It continues to load the March 26 post first, all the time, with new ones after it. Rest assured, the posts are there, they are just listed on the right hand side and I’ll keep working on it.
Thanks!
April Low-Carb Challenge–Blueberry Smoothie
This blueberry smoothie is very low-carb and tastes great.
I have a smoothie blender. Mine is Cook’s brand, but I was also given a Magic Bullet, and kept it for the camper since smoothies are such a favorite around here.
This is what I put in this smoothie to make it lower in carbs.
In the blender cup, I put: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
6-8 (3/4-1 inch long) pieces of frozen bananas
1-1/4 cup almond-coconut milk (from a carton, not can)
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Blend. Enjoy.
When I swap out dairy milk for the coconut almond, I save a lot of calories and carbs. The almond/coconut milk has 35 calories per cup, and less than 1 gram of carbs. 2% milk has 120 calories and 11 grams of carbs. The agave is sweeter than sugar, so it takes very little to sweeten the smoothie. The banana also helps sweeten the drink and gives it body.
We buy straws inexpensively from Cash and Carry by the large box, and everyone enjoys sipping smoothies with a straw, especially when the weather warms up.
Saving Money–April 8, 2017
There are little viola plants coming up all over the place–in the flowerbeds, in the yard, even in the cracks of the sidewalk and the gutter next to the sidewalk. I left this clump of them in the planter box by the door, and they are growing much more lushly than any of the other, probably from the heat of being next to the siding where the sun shines. Patsy and I also dug up and moved several to better spots so they will add some color once they get growing in their new homes. We also moved several daffodil plants to better places. I trimmed things, removed many weeds and moved some other plants around.
Several times, I was able to work outside in the yard and I planted early veggies in the garden this past week before it started raining again. In fact, there was a very strong wind storm on Friday–what a strange weather year it has been! Many trees and branches came down around town, but nothing blew away here, except a piece of plywood, 2 sawhorses. some trash, and the lid to the yard debris bin. All of that was easily put to rights. 4 schools sent kids home, but Rob’s school did not lose power and he worked all day.
Ja’Ana keeps plugging along with her house-cleaning job, earning $24 every Saturday morning. At this point, she’s just having that money put on her youth group account, and it will pay for camp, activities, etc. This is going to help our summer budget tremendously.
Lovana is continuing her job, so is home very little, since she occasionally is doing activities on the weekends with her friends. It’s been nice for her to be able to buy herself some clothes and pay for some college classes that she started on-line this week. She’s also saving up money.
I made blueberry smoothies with some blueberries my Mom gave me. Ja’Ana made some wonderful turkey-vegetable meatballs, using turkey burger from the turkeys Rob grew back at our old house. There are still a few packages left. She made a pesto sauce for noodles to go with it, from pesto I made last summer and froze in an ice cube tray, then popped out into a ziplock bag. The meatballs were so good, I had her make another batch for the Sunday family dinner. They are resting in the fridge to be warmed up.
I boiled some beef bones from the freezer and froze the broth for a 4H event that is coming up. We are going to do a class on outdoor cooking and make stew and some other things. I’m glad to use some of those bones and free up more space in the freezers for fruits and veggies this summer.
I used Swiss chard and spinach from the garden in a vegetable stir-fry, putting the greens in at the end so they were just wilted. I only used about 2 cups of each, and they shrunk a lot. I already had carrots, onions, and celery in the pan and used gf soy sauce and a little pesto. I was surprised on 2 counts: 1) The soy sauce and pesto tasted good together and 2)The entire family, including the kids ate it without grumping. The last time I grew Swiss chard, we did not eat it. It was too strong. I think that growing this more milder kind has been a good move.
We ate chili, sandwiches, fish, chicken, beans, hot dogs, salads, green beans and garlic, stir fry, celery sticks, and more. I shopped only for basics and things I ran out of, and used a lot of things from the freezers, shelves, cupboards, etc., and kept the shopping to a minimum. I didn’t take the kids out for french fries, this week, since a treat ceases to be, a treat if I do it too often. I did stop in this morning for a 2 lb loaf of cheese for $5.48, milk, and a couple of other things, after seeing a reader board advertising the specials at a store near my house. I may stop into the same store for another brick of cheese tomorrow since that’s about as low as the price goes around here.
I took Patsy to the library. I watched Jake for a while today, so I took him, too. His mom took Alissa to her event. His dad took Michaela to her horse ranch where she volunteers and rides most Saturdays. That’s all the parents there were, so Auntie and Uncle got Jake. He likes the puppets at the library a lot. He also loves putting money in the parking meters. I’m hoping to get him used to the library so we can enjoy some of their programs during the summer, when we have lots and lots of time to use up in useful and productive ways that help him grow and develop as a person. Very few activities beat the library, in my opinion! So far, I’m pleased at how he’s warmed up to the whole experience over several exposures. He’s got his mind on baseball right now, and actually had me running around the flowerbed the other day, while I either chased him with a plastic ball, or he chased me, after wildly swinging, and occasionally hitting, the ball with his plastic bat. It was definitely 3 strikes and you’re out…..when it was me. When it was him, hmmm…….he wanted how every many tries it took….hmmmmmmm. Never a dull moment with Jake! He even recruited Ja’Ana for his game, since we were sadly lacking on team members. Lots of frugal fun!
Ja’Ana and Alissa are both practicing driving. Their Driver Ed class started last week. Ja’Ana has to drive for 50 hours, plus this class, before she can have her license. Without the class, it’s 100 hours. With this class, she can also get a certificate that lets her skip the driving part of the test at the DMV. She will still have to take the written test there. Passing this class lowers the insurance cost, too. I feel like I’ve driven, and driven and driven with her, because it averages out to about 5 hours per week. Rob has taken his turns, too. She’s doing great, though and we really want her to pass, so we are doing what we can. Alissa’s parents are taking her driving as well. So glad they each have 2 parents–we all have all we can do to get this much driving in. So worth it if it helps them be safe drivers, though!
I’m looking forward to Easter next week–it sure came up quickly this year! I’ve already got a ham I got on sale and you all know I have potatoes! So, I already have a good start on the meal. People will bring things, too, and it will be a great day.
Garden Plans 2017
I’ve finally been able to get outside a little bit. I have a LOT to do, but it’s been too wet to do it. Over the past week, the weather has cooperated enough for me to do some yard work. I have a lot of plans for this new place. As bulbs and plants begin to emerge from their winter hibernation, I’m getting a sense of which ones I want to keep and which ones have to go.
This is going to be my herb garden. It is a flowerbed next to the vegetable garden. I’ve already removed a huge lemon balm plant. There is a small one in the back that will stay. I don’t use much lemon balm. I want thyme, rosemary, sage, dill, cilantro and basil. I planted the parsley plant for a start, and I can see that there is a chive plant in the background. There are many little chive starts coming up. I will only keep a few, and will either put stepping stones throughout the area, or move the chives forward. I use them a lot in cooking and want them accessible. I will leave the rhubarb. It looks healthy and established. I also unearthed a cold frame and will plant some things in there once I get a bag of dirt poured in there. I’m not sure what, yet.
Rob got part of the garden tilled. There are still a lot of weeds, and he will be re-tilling the rest and finishing the parts he did not do over the next couple of weeks. He double-tilled this area, so I could plant. I planted Golden Acre cabbage and broccoli from starts I bought. The broccoli is a spring mixture, which should stagger the harvest. I planted Walla Walla onions from little plants (the bare-root bundle) and Benny red onions from a 6-pack. I have not grown them before, but that’s what Wilco had. Pasty planted most of them, which was very helpful.
I planted seeds for Detroit beets, Nantes carrots, spinich, pale green Swiss chard, Boc Choi Chinese mustard, Mixed radishes, Oregon Sugar Pod II snow Peas, Little White Snow Peas (the 30 day kind, it promises, we shall see), several lettuces–Buttercrunch and a mixed variety. I planted a small quantity of many cool-weather seeds and plants and will succession plant those which I want more of. I will plant the warmer-crop veggies later in the spring. It’s way too cold and wet for them to grow, yet.
The blackberries we moved last fall are leafing out well. I need to make sure they don’t grow back by the fence where we removed them from. The raspberries there were here need attention. They need new posts and wire, and to be pruned. There are about 100 new starts growing and I need to move some over, and remove some. The ones we moved here with us are starting to put out little tiny leaves, which is a relief, because that variety is the kind I love–so tasty. The blueberries are going to leaf out soon. I hope they bloom well. I got the strawberry bed into good shape, and the new plants are starting to grow a little bit.
I’ve only just begun to clean out the flowerbeds. There seem to be random groupings of bulbs coming up in the middle, sides, edges, etc. of the flowerbeds. Sometimes, there is a tall group coming up in front of a shorter one in the back. I need to get rid of some and move some, once I figure out what I have.
We planted some dahlia starts from my sister in several places. The daffodils Patsy planted last fall are getting established and will bloom better next year. She planted each little bulb far away from each other little bulb and only a few had the strength to bloom this year. Next year, it should be awesome. We moved some other daffodils from the flowerbeds into that bed, and I showed her how to plant in groups, with a few bulbs in a cluster or area. There are a few tulips that are lovely right now.
I emptied out some pots I brought from our old place and planted the primroses and pansies down into the edge of the flowerbeds in the back. I had the girls plant some herb seeds in those pots and put them by the back deck. If I get a lot that come up, I will transplant some of them into the herb bed and keep some in the pots for easy access from the kitchen.
I hope to do either wax begonias, or impatients along the edge of the front flowerbed in the front, plant zinnias along the house in front, and nasturtiums in the planter box by the front door. Rob plans to put moss-killer on the grass, and keep mowing it.
During the night, the weather had the grace to drop a gentle rain onto all I planted yesterday. Lovely. I love spring.
April 2017 Low-Carb Challenge–Cauliflower Pizza
Last month, I did a challenge where I used a lot of pantry ingredients and kept the budget low. I was very pleased with the March 2017 results. I used up a lot of items that really needed to be used. I saved 1/2 of the $200 I had set aside, and saved more than that, since I usually spend more than that in a month on groceries.
I went shopping at Costco, Fred Meyers, Grocery Outlet, Natural Grocers, and a couple of other stores. I bought sale items, such as 99c/ 1/2 gallon milk, bulk items such as 5 dozen eggs and a 4-pack of butter, non food items like kitchen garbage bags, big black garbage bags, vitamins, Tumeric, lots of produce, and more. I worked hard to get the best deals possible from many sources. Now, I’m stocked back up on both food items and other supplies.
This month, I decided to work on my health. As readers of this blog know, I’ve had diabetes for a long time. I was counting up the years, and realized that it’s been 15 years now since I was diagnosed. So, in honor of that anniversary, I decided to focus on finding a few more low-carb recipes this month to encourage myself to keep eating in a way that is interesting and healthy for me. All those potatoes were great for the budget, but I need to eat only a few of them. I’m well-stocked for groceries for the month after my shopping trips, and will just buy produce, things I run out of, etc. for the rest of April. I will also keep eating from my freezers, shelves, etc.
I read several recipes for cauliflower crust pizza. I combined them and came up with something that I liked. Here’s what I did:
I thawed 1 quart-sized ziplock bag of home-frozen cauliflower and pulsed it in the food processor until it was in small pieces. It would probably be about 4 cups of frozen cauliflower if you purchased it.
Following the instructions from a couple of sources, I put the pulsed pieces onto a clean, thin towel and squeezed the water out of it. It was pretty dry.
I mixed: Squeezed cauliflower pulp
2 eggs
salt and pepper (a little of each)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
I put foil on a small cookie sheet, sprayed it with non-stick spray and spread the mixture on it. I baked in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then, I turned it over and cooked for another 10 minutes. I had trouble getting it off the foil so I could flip it, but finally did. Every source recommended parchment paper, but I did not have any. So, I might get some and try that another time.
One source said put cheese on first to keep it from getting soggy, so I did, then spooned sauce sparingly on top. I want more sauce next time. Hopefully, it won’t make it soggy. Then, I put pepperoni, olives, mushrooms and a little more cheese on top, and baked for another 10 minutes.
I really liked it. I could pick it up with my hands and eat it. It was really tasty and good. It was very low carb. In fact, there were not enough carbs in it to hold me over to dinner. That’s a good thing. I love snacks. In fact, I went so low (blood sugars), I got to eat chocolate chips. Double good. I’m pleased. Next time, I’ll just eat a few more carbs with it and it will be a good choice for me. The kids love those $5 pizzas from Little Caesar’s and this will be a good choice for me on the days they want one of those and can talk their daddy into getting them one:)
I’m going to try it again. I will use less salt than I did this time (I used about 1/2-1 teaspoon). It was pretty salty. I may also try it with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese instead of the parmesan, or only use 1/2 cup of parmesan. The crust tasted strongly of parmesan, which I enjoyed. If I wanted a milder flavor, though, I might enjoy mozzarella and Canadian bacon and pineapple. I have quite a few baggies of frozen cauliflower left from when I froze so much last year. I am looking forward to using some of it this way.
Saving Money–April 2, 2017
We packed “car picnics” several times. I usually put several food items in the little cooler and put it between the 2 front seats of the van, when we are driving that, and just hand food around as we drive to our destination. I can think of at least 4 times I did that during the past week alone, saving a minimum of $100 ($25 x 4), and that would be for fast food–not even a regular restaurant. That could easily run $50 – $60 per time, bringing the savings up to over $200.
We drove the van a lot last week, as the little car was in the shop. We drove up and got it back on Friday, and it has no more wobbly bearing in the right front side, brand new back brakes (I guess they were really awful–not safe anymore), and the transmission issues from before are all fixed (some cable needed tightening or something). Also, it doesn’t sound like a ghost is howling in the engine any more. I guess the alternator went out and the alternator clutch was burning cherry red inside–our good friend and mechanic, Bob, took a picture of it glowing. I though that there was an awful, new noise that developed on the way to the shop, and I just kept driving and praying and being thankful that we were ON OUR WAY to the shop when it started. I think that one of the nicest things is putting the car into the hands of one of Rob’s best friends and knowing that he was going to fix it, fix it well, fix everything that needs fixing and nothing more, and not over charge us. In fact, many, many times in the past, he has vastly undercharged us. We gratefully paid what he asked, and it wasn’t inexpensive, but I still think he gave us a really good deal this time as well because there were quite a few things that needed done. I drive so much, I wear things out, so we prefer to get the cars maintained regularly.
Rob hitched up the van to the trailer and we went down to the coast for a few days. We decided to get away on a little vacation while he had the time off from work/school. We used our park pass, so the campground was free, and I was far enough along on my “getting it ready” project that it wasn’t too much work. I did find a few more things that I need to stock in there, though, so I’ll keep on with that project. I loaded up a few freezer meals I had made a couple of weeks ago, some groceries and clothes, and we were off. It was pouring rain, and many campsites were actually flooded and the people could not build a fire if they wanted to because their fire pits were under water. Ours wasn’t, but things were super muddy. We were fine with that. We have a cozy camper. I was so tired, I slept a ton, read several library books, watched multiple movies, etc. I did not even go down to the beach. We took the girls to the outlet mall and we all picked up a few sale clothing items (except Rob, because they took the only big and tall shop out of there, poor Rob). We ate out a couple of times, but mainly ate simple meals from the camper. We only roasted hot dogs and marshmallows once, when the weather cleared off a bit. We bought seafood in a store and cooked it one evening, since we were at the beach, after all, and Rob’s 2 fishing expeditions were not successful. He pulled up a few crabs on his crab fishing pole, but they were females.
Patsy and I did take one short hike during one clear evening. There is a trail in the campground we were in.
We enjoyed the flowers and stream we hiked along.
My aunt gave us some food before she left for her vacation– including a few eggs, celery, and baby carrots. We ate them on our picnics, and I hardboiled the eggs and we ate egg salad sandwiches, egg salad and plain eggs dipped in salt and pepper for a couple of days.
We finally got a couple of sunny days. Patsy and I worked in the yard for several hours. We transplanted some daffodils from this flowerbed to the front. We planted some dahlias my sister gave me in the section to the left of the little white fence, and a few out front. We have hours and hours of yard work left to do, but it was good to get started.
Rob went and got our tillers from my sister’s farm where they were stored. He did one trial strip in the garden and feels he can get into it before long, if it stays dry for a few days. Then, I can plant cool-weather veggies.
I was happy to spend so much time with Rob during the week, and really glad to get caught up on my sleep. I was able to get organized a bit for the week ahead, so I’m ready to go–back on my busy schedule!
Planting Strawberries
Last Friday, my strawberry plants arrived from Territorial. They had promised to ship them “when the time was right.” I guess it was time by the calendar, but, it has been so wet that I was worried that I would not get them in the ground before they suffered. We had high hopes that Rob would be able to get the topsoil on Saturday and I would be able to clear the area. We woke to a deluge! All of our plans had to be postponed.
This is where I wanted to plant them. The previous owner had some strawberries planted in there, but the bed was quite overgrown with grass and weeds. I had no idea how old the berries were, and they usually only last about 3 years before needing to be re-done. I chose Seascape this time because my mom had given me some gorgeous Seascape plants that were just starting to fruit beautifully when we moved. The few I tasted were delicious, so I wanted more:) I’ve had good luck with Tri-star and Quinalt in the past. I did notice that Quinalt did not make very many runners, though. They did produce well, as did Tri-star.
After an extremely rainy Saturday, Sunday dawned clear and gorgeous. I had slightly over 1 hour of free time during the middle of the afternoon. It was still very wet and soggy, but I tackled the job anyway because, well, there was that package of strawberry plants sitting on the counter. I dug up the sod and weeds, separated and moved some of the old plants, sprinkled coffee grounds from McDonald’s on the entire bed and finally, in desperation, stuffed the bunch of strawberry roots into a flowerpot with some potting soil until I could get back to the job.
One day after work, Rob grabbed 4 bags of topsoil from Walmart for around $2 per bag. He poured the dirt on the bed. I had removed a lot of dirt along with the grass, and the bed had sunk over time. I slipped out this morning while the girls were typing up their language arts assignment and planted the plants properly. I have all the new ones down on the far end, and the old ones on the other end. If the old ones don’t produce, look diseased, die, etc. I plan to ruthlessly pull them and throw them away. I then hope to fill in the blanks with runners from the new plants. I had also planned to add some bone meal as well, but the store was out so I will have to stir it in later.
Then, it rained and watered them in. I’m one happy camper. It took almost a week, but they are planted! The new ones don’t look like much, but they will take off now that they are in the dirt. I can look forward to strawberries all summer and fall once they get going. The first year, a new bed produces lightly. With everbearing strawberries, I usually get a fairly good crop by the end of the summer and into the fall, but much more berries the second year. The bed should be good for 3 years, then I will move it and renew it. In the past, I have started a new bed the 3rd year so I always have lots of berries.
I am very pleased to have begun the transformation of my new yard. I have many more plans in mind.
March 2017 Low Budget Grocery Challenge–End of Week 4
I made the last week of the grocery challenge into a school assignment. I gave the girls a list of what I needed, and told them they could spend $38 dollars, not including the soap. I would pay for that since it wasn’t food. I loaded coupons onto my Safeway card, and looked up the Fred Meyer ad on-line. I gave them a list that included soda pop and goldfish crackers, as well as the needed items, and told them to get the most important things first. Do you see that loaded cart? I was amazed–they did so well. They only spent $39 and a little change. They bought milk, eggs, salad stuff, 2 cases water, 1/2 and 1/2, sour cream, 2 lbs cheese, and more. I got dish soap and laundry soap. They did not buy goldfish crackers or soda. They had me drive over to Fred Meyers for the 99c eggs and got 2 cartons and one other thing I forgot. I forget what that was now. Hmmm….. At home, I had them write up what they had learned, and what they would have done differently if it was their shopping trip. One would have bought chicken instead of 1/2 and 1/2. They both thought coupons were a great idea. I plan to repeat this assignment later on and have them do more of the planning.
So, we ended the 4 week period of the challenge at $101. We did not suffer at all. I have almost $100 left over to do what I want to with.
I can really see some spaces in the freezers and on the shelves in the garage. I’m excited about that. I’ve also been going through the camper and pulling items that were opened last summer and forgotten in the cupboards in the move.
I used:
Home-canned and frozen items: Green beans, canned peaches, home-canned grape juice, jam, berry syrup, tomato products, salsa, frozen broth, hamburger, turkey burger, steak, ham bits I froze earlier, hazelnuts, lemon poppyseed muffins I made a while back (all gone now)
Pantry: Gluten-free pancake mix (1 bag emptied), syrup (gone), navy beans, Hershey Kisses from Valentine’s Day, chocolate chips and all odds and ends of M and M’s and other white chocolate chips from camper, Rice Krispies (huge bag and box gone), marshmallows (used all I had in garage and camper–some pretty old), a box of gluten-free bread mix, random cookies and crackers and chips, gluten-free pasta, mushrooms, cream of rice cereal (all gone), cocoa powder, some peanut butter from the camper, baking supplies (all gluten-free), ho chocolate mix and tea, potatoes, onions,
Fridge: carrots, celery, milk, eggs, 1/2 and 1/2, butter, sour cream,
Garden: Swiss Chard. I picked a large handful of leaves 2 times this week from what I planted last fall and stirred it into spaghetti sauce. No one, even the pickiest eater around here, seems to care if there is some chard or spinach in the sauce. I’ve been doing it for years, to add vitamins. The plants are not very tall, so I’m very careful to take only from the outside of the plant and I take sparingly. The leaves are young and tender, and wilt down nicely into the sauce.
I served spaghetti, ham and bean soup, steak with baked potatoes, hamburgers, waffles, eggs, leftovers, chocolate cookies with assorted goodies in them, Rice Krispie treats (3x), chocolate chip cookies,
I wanted to make a few freezer meals. When I made the spaghetti, there wasn’t enough left to freeze, so I made it again Saturday morning and froze that batch. One time it was turkey and one time, beef. Rob made a huge batch of waffles and we froze a bunch of those. I cooked a soup bone in my Instant Pot and froze the broth and bits for a stew later on. I also cooked taco meat and froze it, ready to go.
I will say that the natives got restless on Saturday. I ended up getting completely spoiled when Lovana decided to take us out for lunch. She’s been planning on it for a while now, and Saturday turned out to be a good day. We went to a Chinese buffet where they focus on vegetables and seafood. I was delighted to not get sick. I chose carefully, but buffets are always a gamble for me. I ate a lot of plain-looking sauted shrimp, sauted mushrooms, and stir-fried vegetables. THEN, Ja’Ana talked her into ordering pizza for dinner. So, with the large breakfast Rob cooked, the only food I cooked that day were the freezer meals. We could have eaten at home, but that is what she wanted to do and we gratefully accepted. We thought it was very sweet of her. So, technically, this was 1 day short of a full week, but since I made freezer meals, it evened out in the end.
I learned: We have a very well stocked food supply. We can make good meals out of the things we have. My garden (frozen and canned things at this time of year) saves me a lot of money. It’s worth it to invest in large quantities of things like meat and pasta, as long as we have times like these where we use them up so they don’t go to waste. My family will fork out their own money if they don’t like the offerings I serve, or just want a change. That being said, they will eat Mexican food 5 times in one week without a single complaint, and also eat Swiss Chard in their spaghetti, happily. There was a little bellyaching, but not much more than usual. There’s always a little! In the end, I was very proud of them. We were 1/2 way done before the kids even figured out what we were doing. Trust me, when I do spend the extra $100, they will all know what we buy, and I will make sure they like what we get, to encourage them to see a tangible benefit of saving. In reality, it saved me more than $100, because I can easily spend over $200 in a month for the 5 of us.
Having a list of rules for my challenge that fits my family and situation keeps me less stressed. If I had to only use $100 per month without any little trips for fries or ice cream with the kids or my hubby, it would be very, very hard. But, I could do it, because I did for years in the past. I’ve just gotten softer in my middle age. Also, having that extra $100 set aside that I could use if I needed to, worked well for me. My life is really busy, and can be quite stressful, so it’s very important to me to keep things balanced.
I made more casseroles and desserts than normal and we also ate more carbs (i.e. potatoes, bread, cereal) and I’m afraid I gained a couple of pounds. Yes, really. Yikes! It would be much easier in the summer when we had a producing garden to stay on the challenge and to eat more fresh veggies.
What’s next? Rob and I agreed that we don’t want to think very hard during spring break, which is next week. We both have the week off from work. We have some fun things planned with the kids, and I envision home-cooked meals, some freezer meals I made this week, a picnic if it stops raining for 5 minutes, and probably eating out at least once. I plan to go grocery shopping within the next couple of days and get a few things replaced, like pancake syrup. I may even spring for soda and goldfish crackers for spring break treats.
Saving Money–March 19, 2017
This week was another productive one. I decided to take on the project of working on the camper. When we moved here, the camper stayed at the farm where we spent the summer. That kept the side area open for loads to be taken into the shop, wood to be stacked and other activities to be done. After a few weeks, we moved it down. By that point, I was focused on the house, and I just grabbed things out of it as I thought of them after wondering where they were, or needed them for a recipe, or a project. So, a week or two ago, I decided to take a look around out there. Yikes! Pretty bad! Some cupboards look as if a giant just went through and stirred, or worse! So, I started cleaning it out little by little. I really, really don’t want to do it all at once right before we go on a trip since it’s a big job, and I will want to pack it with our clothes, etc. when that time comes.
Last summer was fun! I can’t wait until we can get out again.
Friday morning, I started on 2 food cupboards out there. I took out several partial packages of things, and used them up. It was good for my food challenge, too. I sorted, organized and made a list of non-perishable items I need to replace. I like buying them on sale, instead of waiting until the day before we go camping when I would have to buy them at full price. I keep a plentiful supply of groceries in the camper at all times because when we go camping we eat from there most of the time.
I spent a morning cooking a few freezer meals. They will save me money later on a busy day. I made gluten-free bread from a mix I had purchased quite a while back. I will post about the final week of our grocery challenge (we are on week 4 now because we started the last week of February) on Monday night or Tuesday.
I was given a rose at Fred Meyers one day. For whatever reason, each lady was handed a rose as she walked past on her way out of the store. They may have been getting old, but it’s still going strong several days later, so it couldn’t have been on it’s last leg!
I worked a few extra hours because Michaela did not feel well. I had to get her from school one day, and then kept her home the following day. She was fine after that. It’s always a balance–it cut into the girls’ homeschool time a bit (to be driving around, etc.), but I am very happy that I can be there for her, and they still finished their work just fine. It just took until later one day, especially. Over the course of this week, we’ve probably played between 15 and 20 games of Yahtzee. That girl loves Yahtzee!
I had my broken filling fixed, using my insurance. That is still wonderful to me, after over 20 years without dental insurance. At this point, I did not have to pay any more money, because they are waiting to see what the insurance pays and they feel we may be up-to-date or even have paid a little more. Nice! No worries if we did overpay a few dollars–Rob’s got more work to be done–it will get used quickly or they’ll give it back.
We got a $10 check from something we accidentally overpaid a while back. We hadn’t realized it, so it was like pennies from Heaven.
I rode the exercise bike 3 times this week at the YMCA, totaling around 17 miles between the 3 sessions, and we did the pool one night. I sat in the hot tub not exercising for quite a while that night. Felt great! I’m loving how much we are using our membership.
Lovana took us out to lunch. Yum! She has worked at her job for 6 weeks now, and wanted to treat us while she was home for the weekend. That was nice.
Rob has been taking both girls, Lovana and Ja’Ana, driving on the weekends. They both have their permits and it’s time for them to practice. Ja’Ana and Alissa have driver’s ed classes starting soon and they want them to have some knowledge coming in. Lovana just wasn’t ready until now, although she’s had her permit for some time. I took J driving one afternoon, and she did great! I have high hopes. Alissa’s parents have been taking her. It will be a few months before they can even try for the licenses, but we are on the right road. Pun intended! We want to get out money’s worth out of the classes, thus we are practicing ahead of time. It would cost Lovana $1,500 for private driving lessons at her age, so……
How did your week go?